1971 Challenger: The "Spare Parts" Car

[Dr.Jass]

The fenders are home, or more correctly in the storage spot with the '71. They're a little worse than expected, but I don't care. They were $200 and $60 in fuel. If I wanted perfect I could've gotten reproductions or paid a lot more for good used. After a little flat-black spray bombing, they'll fit the character of the car perfectly. Besides, they can be repaired. They're not that far gone.

Fun fact: With the rear seatback removed, a 2003 Impala will swallow a pair of Challenger fenders with room to spare! We had about a foot between the back edges of the fenders (the dogleg area went in first, leading edge in the trunk near the taillamps) and the back of the front seat. No problem clearing the trunk lid. I didn't think it could be done, but Pete was sure (and right). I was happy because taking the car probably saved me $100 in fuel compared to his lifted '08 MegaCab. That thing rides like a freakin' lumber wagon to boot, so I'm sure I saved myself some back-related agony too.

We had beautiful weather the whole trip, and my back was no more than a minor annoyance at times. Getting out and stretching my legs would iron it out pretty quickly. I'm just a bit sore at the moment, but I'd say no worse than after any other 11-hour road trip.

We passed through Superior WI and Duluth MN on our journey, which is a favorite area of mine due to my interest in Great Lakes shipping history. We drove past the now-abandoned ore dock where the Edmund Fitzgerald loaded the 26,112 tons of taconite she took to the bottom with her, as well as the SS Meteor, the last ship of her kind in existence above water level (a "whaleback" freighter). It's now a museum, but it was closed for the season--not that we had time to kill. There wasn't a single ship in the harbor or bay, much to my dismay... but I still love going through there. Lots of history in those waters.

 

[Dr.Jass]

I went over to the storage area to scavenge some parts for @RUSTY Cuda this afternoon. While I was there I reassessed the '71 fenders. I may have been too rough on 'em. The structure is mostly good on them, with the only bad structure being behind the driver's headlamp panel. I think that part is the same across all five years of production. I've no shortage of driver's-side fenders (four others at last count, two of which are junk) so that wouldn't be a bad fix.




There's a hole in one dog-leg, and one right on the crease or cutline where the vertical meets horizontal, also on the driver's side. I'm still not in good enough shape to be wrangling large body panels for glamour shots, but I figured I'd get a pic of 'em anyhow. The latter hole isn't really evident, but it's called out in the picture.




I brought Valentine with me, knowing it was a bit of a hike for her short legs and with 14 years on her. She did better than expected. She wandered around the whole time I was there, making sure I was safe from rapscallions, ne'er-do-wells, and bunnies. I can report she did well, never once so much as even sitting down. Ever vigilant, the old girl.




The whole buncha junk I've gathered over there. Is it just me, or does the '74 (on the right) look kinda bad-ass, while the '71 looks kind of pathetic, despite being fully assembed (with wrong parts)? It must be the flat tire.

 

[69.5CUDA]

belive it or not doc its 110% the bumper..i realise it has a grand torino vibe without it but....its soley the bumperlessness making it badassish

 

[71ChargerRT]

Looking at either just makes me want another, Doc.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Looking at either just makes me want another, Doc.

If you don't mind starting with basically a windshield frame, upper cowl, and roof structure we can work out a hell of a deal on the car on the right.

 

[Dr.Jass]

This car wasn't neglected all winter, despite weather not really accomodating working on it in the storage area. Back in January I managed to find yet another grille, this one from a Y3 (Curious Yellow) '71 R/T, complete with upper support (giving me a total of three of those now). How can one tell an R/T grille? It's black rather than argent. This one was an eBay purchase, and with shipping and crating cost me nearly the same as the repaired unit I bought last year. Again, it's not perfect but this one's 99% there, unrepaired, with merely cracks that need attention.

Of course, it was in California. Both the seller and I were extremely hesitant about shipping since these grilles are quite fragile. Much to his credit, dude essentially weaponized a cardboard box. It took Pete and I almost 15 minutes just to get it open enough at UPS to inspect it, and one of their employees even said if it was broke, it sure as hell wasn't due to packaging. There was only the slightest hint of damage--one existing crack had grown about an inch since the eBay photo. It literally wasn't worth making a complaint since no chunks were missing or new breaks were present.

So, now I have a spare grille:



The upper support looks more like '74 Y4 than Curious Yellow, but I assure you, in person it's definitely Y3.

Anyhow, I had to find headlamp bezels to match this grille, already having bought a pair of decent original non-R/T bezels late last year for the non-R/T grille. I found a set with only one ding in them, also on eBay, about a month back. So, I have a complete base grille and a complete R/T grille, both with all-original components.

Unfortunately, between grilles and headlamp bezels I've invested very nearly what I paid for the whole f__kin' car. That being said, I could recover nicely by selling. Demand far outstrips supply.

 

[Dr.Jass]

With two grilles in hand and the weather having gotten consistently nice I decided to walk the Extraordinary Ms. Valentine over to the storage area twice in the last week. I'm anxious to get the '74 parts off the front of the car and make it look like a '71 again. For the most part, disassembly has gone well, with the only stoppages being one broken U-nut (which is still an issue) and me not bringing the right tools in my little bag.

Last week, I got all the upper fender bolts removed with the exception of the one in the U-nut that broke, along with most of the bolts out of the '74 header panel. I also removed the license-plate bracket and the two middle bumper bolts, neither of which broke (shockingly). The outer bolts, well, those are probably going to require grinding to remove. One nut is so rusty it feels like E-Torx, and the other rounded pretty easily despite a fully-engaged socket. The last bolt to free the header panel completey is behind the LH headlight, and in the BSM it appears to be accessible by removing the bezel. I didn't have a screwdriver with me, so that put an end to the evening's festivities.

After pulling the drip-rail mouldings off Agnes tonight and finding the true extent of the rust, I was feeling frustrated... so why not frustrate myself further by working on a different car? Tool bag still loaded, I leashed up the Magnanimous V and strolled on over, this time being sure to bring a Philips-head screwdriver. Of course, the first order of business was to remove the LH outer headlamp bezel to access the last bolt (the RH bolt is apparently missing, as that side is free). I removed the bezel, then the bulb... still no bolt. Drat. Apparently the whole headlight adapter/adjuster assembly has to come out, and of course I didn't have any 1/4"-drive stuff with me for the tiny bolts. Looking for other obvious things I may need to remove (and the front end being a mishmash of '74 and '71) I found a pair of fender supports that needed to swing out of the way, which I did--being careful to replace the hardware so I can find it later. The bumper just isn't going to allow that header panel past it, so I removed the valance. That was easy, since had no bolts connecting it to the fenders, only the two center and outers that anchor to the subframe. The valance is in spectacular shape, which made me quite happy to see.

I looked briefly at the bumper-bracket bolts going into the frame, and all I saw was me hurting myself (my back is still on the fritz, although good enough for light stuff). Her Royal Houndness was getting restless and hadn't eaten, so we called it a night and walked home.

For the next trip, I'll bring tools to get the headlight adapters out and try to arrange for Pete to meet me there with his shiny new cordless impact to use on the bumper bolts. If all goes well, I should be able to complete the disassembly at that point and get the header panel back to the previous owner's son. He told me during purchase it didn't come with the car, which was fine by me--I have four of 'em already, and three of 'em are better than this one. Then it's just a matter of painting the '71 fenders flat black and reassembling the front end the way it should be.

What does it look like now? Not much different... hard to believe it was that much work!

 

[Dr.Jass]

I made a lot more progress tonight, despite only having been over there for an hour and thinking I was doomed because I didn't think I had the right tools. I was wrong, because with the bumper off I had (almost) everything I needed.

The bumper bolts (at the frame) came out surprisingly easily after breaking them loose with an old torque wrench I'd previously welded solid. I didn't stress myself, so I didn't hurt myself. With that out of the way, I could now get to a couple of hidden bolts holding the header to the fender. I discovered the '74 front-end conversion wasn't exactly factory, so a lot of the bolts I thought I needed to remove weren't even there. The ones I thought were inside the headlamp pocket were actually studs installed into the back of the header panel, and only the driver's side stud was installed. The fiberglass immediately stripped, so the stud came right out. A little wiggle and the header panel came out, suspended by the passenger's side headlamp wiring. I pulled the two plugs and was done.




What kept me from going further? The U-nut broke on this bolt, and without power or air tools handy available I've found no way to remove it. Vise-Grips won't hold the U-nut, and there's really no other way to grab it. It's right up against the vertical part of core support, which makes is much harder to access. This is literally the only bolt holding the LH fender onto the car. All the others are gone.




There's a big ol' hole just a-waitin' for the correct-year grille and headlamp bezels. If it weren't for that f__kin' U-nut I'd be nearly ready to start reassembly. The other fender's just sitting there, unfastened.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Maybe a battery drill with a couple of batteries & drill right down through the bolt, enlarging the bits till it beaks off at the head???

Just one of mr Rube goldbergs ideas!

 

[Dr.Jass]

I was back over there Wednesday to battle the recalcitrant fender bolt.

I didn't take pictures of the process, but I used a cutoff-wheel adapter in the cordless drill to cut a giant "screwdriver slot" in the head of the bolt. Once down to the shaft of the bolt, I forced the two sides together with Vise-Grips until they were touching. I repeated the cut, squeezed 'em together again, and cut once more. On Squeeze #3, one side of the head broke off. That gave me a clear shot at the other side with the cutoff wheel. With the head removed and the fender gone, a quick smack on the screwdriver broke the clips and the remnants flew off to parts unknown. Success! Since it's a washer-head bolt, I never even hit sheetmetal. Off came the '74 fender, never to return. It's a metal donor now.

With the old fender now clear of the car, I set the "new", not-quite-as-junky 1970 fender in place:



How do I know these are '70 fenders? The "Challenger" emblem holes are above the character line.

This photo's a good illustration as to the considerable difference in the headlamp area between the '70-'71 fenders (driver's side) and '72-'74 parts (passenger's side). There's literally no provisions for headlamp mounting on the later fenders.




The studs at the dog-leg end of the passenger's-side fender were threatening to once again break the U-nuts, so I hosed them down with some penetrant, gathered up my tools, and headed home. I wasn't interested in breaking any more parts, so I left them to soak in their misery.

Thus far, I've only broken one bolt (for the license-plate bracket) and had to cut away another. Not bad on a 52-year-old WI car.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Today I brought the non-R/T grille over by boxing it--I stil had most of the box from the R/T grill--and strapping it to my dolly. Yes, it's light enough to just carry the 3 or 4 blocks, but I had a plan.

The first order of business was to get after the nuts on the lower fender studs. That went surprisingly well, though it was no shock when the whole studs came out of the U-nuts. A short battle later and the passenger's fender was off (one of the AC lines passes over the mounting flange at the core support). A reverse battle was required to get the "new" fender in place, because I had to jockey that under the same AC line.

Side note: I had to remove the washer bottle to get to two of the bolts at the core support. Removing the washer bottle was a treat. The screws came out OK, but that same AC line was in the way. I was holding the line clear and nearly had the bottle out when it suddenly shifted. A large section of the bottle just evaporated. Typical ancient Mopar plastic. Anyhow, I need a new one of those. Grrrr. Oh, yeah--if that's the OE bottle, this car was a foot pump instead of electric washers. Another weird thing to find on a disc-brake car with AM/cassette and AC. It also didn't have a remote mirror.

The cowl/firewall areas normally hidden by the fenders show no signs of rot, although the driver's side has plenty of surface rust:




The passenger's side has a dent and a crack (upper right in the photo), but very little rust a'tall. This is an easy fix, if removing the entire dash structure and AC box can be considered "easy":

Yes, I know: use a stud gun.




Fenders are like new pants. Even if you're not wearing them for the remainder of the day, you should at least try 'em on!



Note the factory blackout paint around the headlamps.

Temporary though it was, it was nice to see it starting to look like a '71 again. Off came the fenders again, leaving it looking like this when I was done:




Before I left, I also removed the K-mart "Blue Light Special" exterior rear-view mirror. Not only did it look like crap, the main body of it flopped around like a broken bobblehead. I'll pull the driver's door panel off the trashed '74, which had a remote racing mirror, and install it on this car. Then I can have fancy racing mirrors!




Remember when I said I used the dolly because I had a plan? I want to clean up, sand, and paint (poorly) the "new" fenders so they'll at least somewhat match the car. I may make a few repairs but I'm not going bonkers on that just yet (I may eat those words). The easiest way I had to get 'em home was strap 'em to the dolly and start hoofin'!




I also need to paint the upper grille support, which is a '71-only part, as well as the front valance (which is still at storage--you can only get so much on a dolly). After I've got everything refinished to my temporary satisfaction, I'll install the marker lights and very likely bring it all back over to storage the same way it got here.

First things first, though... I have to walk over to the storage area again to get my pressure washer. If nothing else, I'm getting a lot of exercise!

 

[Dr.Jass]

I didn't get as much done today as hoped, but it wasn't completely wasted. I forgot to grab the camera until after I was done, though.

I pressure-washed both fenders right off the bat, but unfortunately the "blast" tip for my pressure washer is fouled, so I need a new one of those. I had to use the next-lightest, "doesn't strip paint" tip instead. There's a huge difference, but I made do. Next order of business was the palm sander with a 36-grit disc. That's where I discovered my first issue: Apparently the wide part of the black stripes on the fenders was painted with, I dunno, road tar? It tore up discs and I was frustrated before I was even through the texture on the front half of one fender. It was like wrinkle paint mixed with motor oil. Didn't sand so much as it smeared.

Then I remembered this dude:




What you're eyeballin' there is a can of pre-EPA go-to-hell paint stripper. VOC compliance? Not today, Sparky. This stuff sat in my rear entryway for years until the can started to look worrisome--more like a throw pillow than a metal can, which you can still see--then I had the bright idea to put it outside and forget about it. Look at the spout. It's so rusty it crumbled when I tried to remove the cap, which also collapsed. The handle broke when I tried to lift it. There's rust in the stripper itself, which alternately comes out a black goo or what I'm used to seeing. The can was too frail to shake, so I just poured it as-was. It still worked, but the contaminated stuff on top wasn't as effective. I don't know how long I've had this thing; I just remember being geeked that it was the old formula and buying it. I'm guessing about 15-16 years.

I proceeded to make a complete mess of my driveway, not only because of the paint stripper but because I used the pressure washer to remove it and the old paint. It'll be obvious in the photos which one got the more-effective, less-black stuff. I'm waiting for the driveway to dry so I can sweep the orange snow.

No ugly surprises on either fender, which is to say I was aware of all the ugly before I started. Did I get down to bare metal? Hell, no. I may try another round of the stripper before starting to sand again.

Driver's fender:










And on the passenger's side, we have:








The dog-leg area of both:




There were several layers of paint, with the fenders leaving Hamtramck in the lovely shade of K7, a.k.a. Dark Burnt Orange. Over the years they were then painted K2 (Go Mango), Y1 (Top Banana), then K2 again. Nearly all of the Go Mango you see in the pictures is the first layer, back before they were painted yellow. If you look closely at the passenger's side fender, you can see the remnants of a black stripe. That is not the black stripe I was attempting to remove in the first place. The older, buried stripe was much narrower, and I assume the stripes that were on the fenders when I started were as wide as they were to cover the old one. That would also explain the gnarly textured paint. Most of the driver's fender is currently dark red primer that was applied over the original K7. It's good primer, too--it can't be reasoned with. The stripper has little effect. The passenger's side is still K2 because that was the stripper from the top of the can, which wasn't as effective as the low-down stuff.

Either way, if I have to sand from here, I'm a hell of a lot closer to metal than I was when I started. That being said, it was never my intention to take them all the way to metal, at least not at the moment. I just wanted to shoot some crappy black rattle-can paint at 'em for now, and not have stripes or hard paint edges showing through.

Are they repairble? Absolutely. They're actually worse on their back sides than they are out front. Both panels that bolt to the core support are perforated and flimsy. Those will be tricky, but thankfully those parts are the same on all five years, so I can scavenge them off the junk '74 fenders (I have two of each side). One of the wheel-arch-to-flange braces is broken free, but nothing appears to be missing. Hopefully that's just a re-weld. The headlamp mounts are good as is the rest of the bracing, with the obvious exceptions of the back of the dog-legs, but anything not seen doesn't need to be perfect. Looking yesterday, most of the problem areas could be cut out of one of the '74 fenders.

Is that stuff going to happen now? Nope. For the moment, I'm going to get them as smooth as I can, mitigate the rust issues, re-weld that wheel-arch support, and shoot 'em black. I may weld the emblem holes closed; I haven't decided.

 

[69.5CUDA]

those fenders dont look all that bad all things considered

me im a sucker for the 73/4 grill combined with the rt hood, while i feel the early grill always jived better with the shaker or the TA scoop due to the way the lines flow...i know its silly but something about the late grill just flows into the rt hump

 

[Dr.Jass]

those fenders dont look all that bad all things considered

They're really not, which is why I felt $200 was a good price for the pair. They definitely need work, but it's work I can do. A pair of AMD reproductions will set a guy back over a grand with freight these days, and they always need work--they just don't fit like originals. I'm willing to put the effort into better-fitting, heavier-gauge original parts to avoid the work required to get Chinese parts to fit nearly as well.

me im a sucker for the 73/4 grill combined with the rt hood, while i feel the early grill always jived better with the shaker or the TA scoop due to the way the lines flow...i know its silly but something about the late grill just flows into the rt hump

I've always preferred the later grille as well. My old '73 was one of the first ones I ever saw, since most magazine cars were '70-'71, and it was love at first sight. The '71 was always my least favorite of the bunch, but I still prefer that over the E-body 'Cudas. Regardless, I'm mostly a sucker for the right year grille in most cars. For what it's worth, there's another flat-black '71 Challenger running around locally with a 1970 grille in it. I've no problem with the '70 grille; it just looks wrong.

I also prefer the '72-'74 taillamps, which were what was on the original Challenger design. That was the basis for the Yellow Jacket show car--later modified into the Diamante--which had the '72-up taillamps before the '70 Challenger even appeared. They're centered between the bumper and decklid in a proper tail panel. The '70 and '71 Challenger taillamps aren't centered like they should've been, to my eye. They only really look "right" on cars with elastomeric bumpers, where the top half of the bumper is painted to look like part of the tail panel. It's something that can't be unseen:

With the rear bumper painted like that, the taillamps look more centered in the back of the car. On chrome-bumper cars, they're too low. They appear to be resting on the bumper:

Side note: The green convertible appears to be the same color my '71 was originally. I like the color, but the rub strip and incorrect pinstripe really detract from the 'vert.

The squinty, sorta-Torino-ish '71 taillamps are my least favorite, by a long shot. They're probably the reason the '71 was my least-favorite Challenger, since I've no real issue with the grille other than current pricing. Alas, that's how it was built so that's how it stays.

 

[restoman]

"They're really not, which is why I felt $200 was a good price for the pair. They definitely need work, but it's work I can do. A pair of AMD reproductions will set a guy back over a grand with freight these days, and they always need work--they just don't fit like originals. I'm willing to put the effort into better-fitting, heavier-gauge original parts to avoid the work required to get Chinese parts to fit nearly as well."

I've always felt that way.
Far too many times, I've seen and heard of lightly rusted or dented OEM sheetmetal tossed in favour of repro trash. The repro stuff is never as good as the original. Never.
Those fenders are very repairable. Wish I was closer to the UP...

 

[Dr.Jass]

Far too many times, I've seen and heard of lightly rusted or dented OEM sheetmetal tossed in favour of repro trash. The repro stuff is never as good as the original. Never.

They're a little more than lightly rusted, at least on the back side, but again--I can get those parts from other, lesser fenders. The ones that were on the car are good in most of the areas where these need work, and I still have the ones on the wrecked '74.

Regarding the reproduction stuff: The difference was best illustrated to me when Kevin started buying up every '68-'70 Charger NOS panel he could find for his car. He already had all AMD stuff, but realized how many pie cuts, re-welds, tweaks and such he would need to make to get the car where he wanted it. Of course, he works for AMD, but even so he says there's really no comparison. "Changing a marker light hole is nothing compared to a panel being off by 1/8" at the door jamb."

Those fenders are very repairable. Wish I was closer to the UP...

I wish you were too. Hell, I'd ship 'em to you but the cost alone would be astronomical.

 

[71ChargerRT]

I'd love to have another. I'll take any of the original 5 model years, Axis versions do nothing for me.

 

[69.5CUDA]

im glad im not alone..always felt the whole flow of a 73/4 car just seemed "right" the early cars always bugged me to no end

id never seen the painted tail like that..and your right it actualy fixes the tail lights!!!!

also yeah NOT a fan of any of the "cuda" noses in the 70s they all feel wrong in one way or another...honestly the cuda died to me in 1970..its a re-nose n tailed challanger!....the chally less so untill the late g5rill n tail which..NAILED IT!

 

[Dr.Jass]

From the "More than I can chew?" department.

I spent about an hour and a half with the palm orbital sander and some 36-grit sandpaper tonight. I started working on the driver's side fender, which is the worse of the two and had less paint on it after chemical stripping. Guess what was under the K7? Actual K2, which leaves whatever the two other coats of orange were in question.

Yep, this fender has been painted five times. Looking more closely at the passenger's side, it appears to be the case on that one too.

Anyhow, I found more ugly and expanded on the ugly of which I was already aware. Surprises? Well, I wouldn't say I was surprised. This is the kind of thing one comes to expect. I didn't know I had these issues, but it's not surprising.

This is a low spot, about a foot forward of the windshield corner:




This spot is so low, I couldn't find the bottom of it. Just kidding; it was on the driveway after the chunk of 'glass-reinforced filler pushed out:



The front corner is a bigger mess than expected, but I believe I have a more-solid one on the wrecked '74. I pulled out a large chunk of filler that was stuck to 3M Body Repair Tape. I'd almost forgotten that stuff existed. The edge showing halfway down the bumper recess doesn't really indicate the true thickness of the plastic, which was probably 5/16" at the thickest. I was aware of the bent flange at the front edge where the headlamp bezel mounts, which is an easy fix.




Another rust hole hidden by The Putty Professor, this on the top corner near the front of the fender. I expect to replace this whole area.




The mild disaster that is the front half in its entirety:




Evil lurks behind the primer. I can feel it in my soul. Actually, you can see I started getting into some filler at the character line.




The less-disastrous, still-considerable-work back half:



If you review the pictures, you'll see a few orange dots. Those are pinpoint low spots. The previous car may have suffered an ice pick attack. Anyhow, this is how the fender looks now, with more than half the sanding done but plenty left to do.




On the bright side, the other fender (thus far) appears to be in far better condition. Still, I don't find this one unrepairable, just quite a bit of work... work I think I can do, and do well.


Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of rot, I will fear no plastic: for Lincoln art with me; its wire and its shielding gas, they comfort me.

 

[restoman]

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of rot, I will fear no plastic: for Lincoln art with me; its wire and its shielding gas, they comfort me. "

I will dwell in the booth of the paint Lord, forever and ever. Amen"